A mission
by swarkless
Summary: Tony is on another mission. But when something happens to Pepper what's going on? Will they be okay after everything they've been through? One-shot for now but may turn into a multi-chapter story


**Ay it's your friendly neighborhood Marili here. No just kidding but this is a pepperony one-shot I whipped up. It probably won't turn into a multi-chapter story but we'll see. Enjoy!**

* * *

Pepper sat at her desk as she listened to the progress of Tony's mission. She always tried not to but she ever couldn't as it hurt her too much to not know what's going on. Every time Tony went on a mission she was terrified. Terrified of something bad happening. Terrified of losing him. Terrified of losing her true love. Even though they had been together for only a year she was with him through the start as his assistant. She had the strongest bond with him as anyone else. So it hurt her the most when he went on another mission. She always hoped that he would just stop being Iron man and live a normal life with her, but he's Tony Stark. He wants to save the world. He needs to save the world. There's no one else that could save the world so Pepper has just had to accept the fact. Although Tony said it was a simple mission Pepper was worried sick. She had turned Jarvis off multiple times so she couldn't listen to what was going on but still, she always found her way back to her desk, with her earpiece in and listening to the progress.

Just as she was about to turn Jarvis off again, her earpiece went dead. She tried reconnecting it and it did, but everything was still silent. She was about to ask Jarvis if her earpiece was broken, but then she heard static coming from the other side and she realized that it was Tony's earpiece that was broken. Which meant that he had to have his helmet off and he would never take his helmet off which only meant one thing. That his helmet had broken. Pepper felt the anxiety and panic building up and millions of thoughts entered her head.

"What if he's hurt?"

"What if he's dead in a pit somewhere?"

"This mission definitely had to be serious. There's no way it's a simple mission if his helmet is broken"

"What if he won't come back?"

"What if I'll never see him again?"

"I didn't even get to say goodbye to him"

The millions of thoughts in her head were interrupted by her breathing getting more difficult. It felt like all the air had been taken away. She immediately asked Jarvis what was going on.

"Miss Potts by my analysis it seems you're having a severe panic attack."

"Me and a panic attack?" Pepper couldn't believe what she was hearing. She never had panic attacks. She just wasn't a panicky person. She got up and just as she did, she felt extremely faint and dropped to the floor. Right before she passed out though, she called out to Jarvis, her words really slurred.

"Jar-Jarvis cal- call 9-1-1" and she passed out.

* * *

Thankfully Tony's Jarvis still worked and doing so Jarvis was still able to talk to him

"Sir-" Jarvis started but was quickly interrupted by Tony.

"Jarvis not now! I'm getting a good lead here!"

"I'm sorry sir but I'm afraid Miss Potts has been taken to the hospital."

Just as Tony heard the word hospital he felt like the floor was being ripped away.

"What?! The hospital? What happened?"

"She experienced a severe panic attack and fainted but I'm not sure of the details as to why she had a panic attack" Jarvis said in his calm robotic voice.

"How is she?!" Tony almost demanded.

"I'm sorry sir, I don't know. I think it's best for you to go the hospital and find out yourself"

"Yeah" he thought as he began to worry "What if something was extremely wrong with her"

"But I can't leave! I'm still in the middle of this."

"Sir I can attempt to contact Colonel Rhodes and see if he could take over."

"Yes Jarvis, thank you!"

"It's my pleasure sir." Said Jarvis as Tony turned around and started flying back to Malibu and the hospital Pepper was taken to.

* * *

Pepper kept slipping in and out of consciousness while the doctors were doing tests to make sure nothing major was wrong. She didn't feel like anything major was wrong but she probably had a concussion as her head was banging. She looked around to see multiple doctors. There were probably two nurses and two doctors working on her. Before she could comprehend anything that really was going on or say something, she slipped out of consciousness again.

Tony got to the hospital in record time. Maybe in like 15 minutes or so. As he walked in to the hospital he was immediately instructed by a nurse to Pepper's room.

When he walked in he saw Pepper's motionless pale body sleeping in the hospital bed. There were many machines hooked up to her which made everything seem worse than it was. Tony just hoped that it wasn't anything serious. He slowly made his way to Pepper's bedside and sat down in a chair next to it. He grabbed her hand and just held it, not saying anything. Just being happy that Pepper was still alive next to him, even though she didn't really look okay.

Pepper slowly opened her eyes and blinked them, taking in her surroundings and the bright lights of the hospital room.

"Hey" she said slowly when she saw that Tony was next to her.

He immediately picked his head up at the sound of her voice "Hey! You're okay!"

"Well for the most part probably yes, but I feel like I have a concussion cause my head is still kind of banging."

"Yes, well at least it's not something major." He said as he got up from his chair and leaned in to kiss her. When they broke apart he sat back in his chair and took her hand again.

"What even happened? Jarvis called me and said you had a panic attack and fainted and were taken to the hospital." Tony said as calmly as he could but you could sense from miles away that he was extremely worried.

"Well I'm afraid that's exactly what happened" Pepper said strengthening her grip on Tony's arm.

"Yes but why did you even have a panic attack? What made you so worried?" Tony asked, still afraid as to what she'd say.

"Well basically what happened is that I was listening to progress on your mission as always and then it just broke up. I thought it was just my earpiece but I reconnected it and then I heard static coming from the other side which meant that it was your earpiece and that meant your helmet had come off and probably broken. I just started to get extremely worried and that's when my breathing got super difficult. I got up and felt super faint and just dropped to the floor. I just had Jarvis call 911 before I passed out" Pepper said getting teary eyed as she remembered how hard that was for her.

"Oh honey I'm so sorry" Tony said as he pulled her into his arms and embraced her "But see I'm fine don't worry. I'm here and we're okay."

"Yes" Pepper said pulling out of Tony's embrace and kissing him deeply but still softly. They broke away just as Pepper's doctor walked in.

"Hi Mr. Stark, I'm Dr. Simons and I've been taking care of Miss Potts" he said as he shook Tony's hand.

"Nice to meet you" Tony said and sat back in his chair.

"Well it's good to say that Miss Potts hasn't suffered any major injuries. Our main concerns are though that her blood sugar and blood pressure dropped alarmingly low. That's what made her faint. We would like to keep her here for the night for observation and when she gets home, nothing that would make her stress out. No work for about a week or so, and when she does go back take it easy."

"Thank you Dr." both Tony and Pepper said.

"You're welcome" Said Simons and left the room to leave Tony and Pepper alone.

"It could've been way worse" Tony said as he stroked Pepper's hair

"Yes it could've" Pepper agreed right before she slipped out of consciousness again.

* * *

When Pepper woke up again it was already 10 am and they were getting ready to discharge her. They did some final tests to check if everything was okay and Dr. Simons prescribed Pepper some vitamins that should keep her blood sugar and blood pressure up. Tony helped Pepper into a wheelchair and helped her downstairs and into his car. Tony had stayed up all night next to Pepper so he called Happy to come pick them up.

They started driving back to the Malibu mansion but Pepper was very quiet.

"Hey, everything okay?" Tony asked worrying that something was wrong.

"No, I'm fine. It's just that..." Pepper stopped for a little before continuing "it's just that this was actually really scary."

"Yes honey, I know." Tony said stroking Pepper's cheek. "What do you say we have a nice relaxing dinner tomorrow night? Get our minds off everything"

"Yeah sure, that'd be lovely" Pepper said before giving Tony a quick kiss.

The rest of their car ride was spent in comfortable silence. When arriving at their mansion, Tony helped Pepper out of the car and to their bedroom where she laid down.

"Do you want anything to eat?" He asked while turning the tv on for her.

"Yeah but nothing big. A sandwich is fine" she answered while getting the remote and scrolling through the channels for something to watch "And maybe just a glass of apple juice."

"Okay honey" he said and went downstairs to make her a nice sandwich.

She was just scrolling through the channels until she found "the bachelor". It was always her favorite show. And now that she was basically on bedrest for a day or so she thought she could watch some of the episodes she missed and enjoy it.

Just as she turned the episode on Tony entered their bedroom with her sandwich and apple juice and put it on the bedside table next to her.

"Thank you honey" she said and kissed him softly.

"You're welcome baby. I'll be in the workshop. Just have Jarvis call me upstairs when you need anything."

"Okay love you." She said and Tony left to go to the workshop.

The evening had gone mostly the same way. Surprisingly it was only 11pm when Tony came upstairs from his workshop and got in bed with Pepper.

"Honey sleep, you need it." Said Tony and wrapped his arms around Pepper's waist pulling her close to him.

"Yes well you need sleep too" she responded and turned the lights off. That's how they fell asleep. Close to each other like always.

* * *

By morning Pepper felt much better. She got up slowly trying not to wake Tony up as it was only 9am. Pepper brushed her teeth and applied some simple make up even though she'd be staying home until their dinner in the evening. She went downstairs and took her vitamins along with a cup of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal. It was pretty unusual for Pepper to be this hungry as she never ate a lot, but that was probably because the only thing she had eaten yesterday was a sandwich. After she ate she went to the living room and turned the news on.

The first thing that showed up was a news headline about her that said

"Is the CEO of Stark Industries okay? Pepper Potts in hospital after a panic attack and fainting."

She was used to her being on the news but she really didn't like it. What surprised her even more is how did they know she was in the hospital. But well reporters usually know everything. She changed the channel until she got to the episode of Friends she left off at and watched that until she heard some faint footsteps coming downstairs.

"Hey honey" she said and got up to give Tony a kiss.

"Hey, you feeling any better?" he asked still concerned after everything that happened.

"Yes I'm feeling way better. I even had a full meal."

"Well that's good." He said and walked to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. Pepper walked after him and sat at the kitchen island.

"Remember, we have those reservations at 7:30pm so make sure you wear something nice"

"Yes, I already know what I'm going to wear."

"That's fantastic" he said and walked with her back to the living room. Today was just another day for them to cuddle and enjoy the comfort of each other.

* * *

Before they knew it, it was already 6:20 so they slowly started to get ready. Pepper wore a nice long dress with no back. Pretty similar to the one that she wore at the gala where her and tony almost kissed on a rooftop. Tony wore a nice suit like he always did and wow he looked handsome. Pepper applied some make up even though Tony told her that she didn't need it. That she looked perfect without it.

They got into the car Happy had ready for them and drove to the restaurant. After getting there they were immediately instructed to a table at the rooftop which was full of rose pedals and candles.

"Wow this looks amazing" she told him as she sat down.

"Yeah it does. I helped getting all the candles and rose pedals in place"

"You did? When? I thought you were in the workshop last night."

"Yes, well that's what I told you. I was actually here and helped set this rooftop up"

"Wow Tony that's so sweet" said Pepper as she gave Tony a quick kiss from over the table.

The waiter had taken their orders and poured them some champagne. Pepper and Tony both really enjoyed their evening.

When they were done with dessert Tony spoke up "There's actually something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh okay," said Pepper "go ahead."

"Can I just say that I am honestly surprised I found someone as fantastic as you. I didn't think I would ever find love but now, here you are sitting across from me. Even when you were my assistant I felt these feelings for you. I just didn't ever get the courage to tell you."

"Wow Tony you never told me that." Said Pepper as she took another sip of her champagne.

"Well yeah. Now, I know we've known each other for almost 10 years and I got to admit that's a lot. I have had this on my mind for a couple months now but I never had the right moment to do it. Well I think now's the right moment." Said Tony as he got up from his chair, getting down on one knee and pulling out a velvet box.

"Oh my god Tony!" exclaimed Pepper as her eyes filled with tears.

"Pepper…" Tony said and opened the box, revealing a beautiful diamond ring, "Will you marry me?"

"Yes Tony! Of course!" Said Pepper as Tony got up and slipped the ring on her finger giving her a passionate kiss.

"Wow you are my fiancée now. Didn't think that'd ever happen" Tony said as he examined how good the ring looked on her finger.

"Honestly, me neither"

* * *

**Okay so this is the end for now! I really hope you enjoyed it. As I said I'm not sure if I'll be turning this into a multi-chapter story, so it's a one-shot for now. English is not my first language so please don't give me hell for any mistakes.**

**Love you all!**

**Marili 3**


End file.
